Let Bygones Be Bygones (2 of 3)

Jail Break

King Thranduil called for me again, and was most displeased with my answer when I told him that I couldn't convince Thorin. Not that I tried very hard to convince him, I don't want one of those 'trying and failing to convince a stubborn dwarf' headaches. I'm being lead back to the cells by two guards when suddenly there is a klunk from the one behind me. Both myself and the other guard turn to see him fall and without thinking I turn and reach for the standing guards weapon, but he dodges to the side and behind me in a spinning motion. Bloody elves love their prancing. I turn quickly and hear a loud klunk and then him fall next to the first elf. As he falls I see Bilbo standing behind him holding a rock. “Bilbo!” I say in a relieved whisper and hug him. “How did you get in here? Wait. Never mind, how are we going to get out of here without being seen?” I ask hoping he has an idea.
“Don't worry I've got a plan. I've got the keys, we're going to get the others then make for the cellars” he replies in a whisper.
“The cellar?” I ask confused
“Please, just trust me...” He says sounding a little hurt.
“I trust you Bilbo.” I say, resulting in him smiling. After a moment Bilbo clears his throat.
“Where are Thorin and the others?”
“They're down in the cells” I say nodding the way the guards were taking me.
“Right, let's go” he says and hurries down the path and down the stairs.
I wander off to the side realising the guards-room is close. It's surprisingly empty, must be because of the feast, I assume. I open the confiscated belongings box closest to me not everyone's items are inside, but I grab what's there. Oin's hearing trumpet, Ori's slingshot, Gloin's photoframe Items that they think could contain lockpicks I guess, and my weapons which are all filling the one container. I quietly close the chest and look around for any other belongings. I have to quickly hide as I see a guard walking around the table in the centre of the room, who before now was hidden behind a decorative dividing wall. I hear him pull out a chair and start speaking to another of the guards who must already be seated. I look through one of the small gaps in the design and see that they are both now sitting down and drinking. I curse under my breath and make my way to the door, quickly and quietly. I almost run into Bilbo who seems to have followed me.
“What are you doing?” He asks a little frantically. Not forgetting to keep quiet. He notices a few of the items I am holding and then looks at me and sighs. I look at him apologetically. We hear some guards passing close by so we quickly head towards the cells.

“I’ll wager the sun’s on the rise. It must be nearly dawn.” I hear Bofur say as we get closer. I keep a look out as Bilbo goes over to the cells
“We’re never going to reach the mountain, are we?” Ori says sounding heartbroken
“Not stuck in here, you’re not!”
Thorin and the other dwarves jump up in surprise and rush over to the cell gates.
“Bilbo!” Balin's exclaims happy to see the Hobbit.
All the dwarves sound happy to see him.
“Shhh! There are guards nearby!” Bilbo states to all the noisy dwarves.
Bilbo unlocks Thorin’s cell and lets him out. He then proceeds to let all the dwarves out of their cells. I move over to the dwarves Oin his hearing trumpet that I managed to reclaim but because of the crowd I can't return Gloin's photoframe or Ori's slingshot so I put them in my inside pocket for safekeeping. I head towards the way down to the cellar and look back to see the dwarves heading up the stairs where we were brought in .
“Not that way, down here. Follow me.” Bilbo says walking past me and down the stairs. I wait for a few of the dwarves to pass before following Bilbo. Who proceeds to lead us down, further into the woodland realm until we're in the cellars
There are elves sleeping with their heads on a table, with several empty bottles of wine in front of them.
From here I don't know what Bilbo's plan is so I feels as uneasy about this as the rest of the dwarves look.
“This way.” Bilbo says as he heads further in. “Come on” he motions with his hand
“I don’t believe it; we’re in the cellars!” Kili states
“You were supposed to be leading us out, not further in!” Bofur says, all the dwarves sound displeased at the revelation of being in the deepest part of the Woodland realm.
“I know what I’m doing!” Bilbo says confidently
“Shhh!” Bofur says motioning with his finger to his mouth to be quiet.
We start walking past some barrels in the middle of the room and a large wine rack the other side
“Everyone, climb into the barrels, quickly!” Bilbo says before we pass said barrels. I've alredy past the barrels so I have to walk back a little, I look at them unsure.
“Are you mad?! They’ll find us!” Dwalin says practically storming over to Bilbo
I look at Bilbo uneasy, I don't see how we're going to get out this way.
“No, no, they won’t, I promise you. Please, please, you MUST trust me!” Bilbo pleads.
“Well I trust him.” I state, and climb into a barrel that's stacked on top of another He's confident we won't be found this way so... I look at the others and wait for them to make their minds up. Bilbo looks at Thorin hoping he will trust him enough.
“Do as he says!” Thorin says and everyone starts to get into the barrels.

The dwarves start climbing into barrels, some helping others. Once we're all in Bilbo walks along, counting, I guess he's making sure everyone is here. There's a couple of empty barrels,
“What do we do now?” Bofur asks popping his head out, causing everyone else to pop their heads out.
“Hold your breath.” Bilbo looks at everyone then pulls a leaver
“Hold my breath? What do you mea-” Bofur doesn't get to finish because the floor tilts causing us all to forcefully lean against the inside of the barrels.

We all yell as we start rolling, ones stacked ontop of others, like myself, hit the floor causing us to get shaken about before falling for a moment before getting soaked as we splash into a river. Some of us getting bounced around a lot as other barrels collide with ours, before everyone is upright in their barrels. Thorin is holding onto Dwalin and Bifur's barrels who are holding onto the walls making sure the barrels don't float away as we look around to make sure everyone is alright. But I don't notice Bilbo.
I look up to where we fell from as the trapdoor closes, Bilbo hasn't gotten out yet.
“Come on Bilbo” I say looking up at the gap.

A few moments pass and we hear thumping on the trapdoor before it opens and Bilbo comes sliding out on his feet, landing in the water on his back. He looked almost like a log for a moment he tensed that much. He surfaces and grabs onto my barrel and I hold onto him, relieved that he's alright and so that he doesn't slip off.

“Well done, Master Baggins.” Thorin says smiling at Bilbo's brilliance.
Bilbo, half drowned, waves his hand in thanks and manages to splutter “Go”
“Go, come on, let’s go.” Thorin says as he turns around in his barrel and starts to use his arms to speed up.
I use one had to hold Bilbo onto the barrel and the other to paddle with the current of the river
“Hold on!” Thorin suddenly yells and I look ahead to see daylight and the dwarves in front start to drop. I hold Bilbo with Two hands to *make sure he doesn't fall off as we fall then get submerged for a second under a small waterfall. Bilbo has fallen off a little and is holding onto the rope on the side of the barrel so I help him pull himself up.

We bump into each other and the rocks at the side and in the midst of the rapids.
We hear a horn blow and I look back to see Legolas before hearing voices of other elves in front causing me to look and see a small gatehouse. I'll hand it to them they have thought of everything, these elves... One of the elves pull a leaver and a gate closes stopping the barrels and us from going any further down stream.
“No!” Thorin exclaims in annoyance, we were free for a moment. The barrels bump into each other and the elven guards draw their swords as we flow towards the pile up. “If you get a chance, escape” I say quietly to Bilbo.
I look at the guards and one is suddenly shot in the back with a black arrow falling into the waterbetween a couple of the barrels as several growling orcs swarm over the gatehouse, killing the expecting elves. More orcs rush in from all sides, with their leader, a vile pale orc with armour that's embedded in his flesh and bolted to him. Bolg spawn of Azog. I have heard of this creature and know him by reputation only.
“Someone get onto the bridge” Thorin says. Orcs are throwing themselves at us and killing the elves that seem to have appeared from no where.
An orc jumps at me and I am able to hold it back by the throat and holding it's arm that has a dagger, slowly moving it closer as my bad shoulder is straining against the weight and strength of the orc. Bilbo stabs the orc in the throat, thankfully no where near my hand. I drop the orc to the side, into the water before clutching my shoulder in pain as I feel someone jump onto my barrel then onto shore. As I look I notice it's Kili who ducks to avoid an orc's swing.
“Kili!” Dwalin shouts and throws him a sword he had managed to get off an orc.
Kili kicks the now dead orc that he was fighting into the water and runs up the steps to the lever, fighting his way there. I grab one of my daggers that I had managed to salvage and stab an orc that was attacking Ori, who was punching the vile creature.
“Kili!” Fili shouts worried about his brother, I look up to the young dwarf who is lying on the floor with an arrow in his leg.
I have to pull Bilbo back onto the barrel quickly before jumping out of it. An orc that was right in front of me as I jumped onto the stone gets shot through the head and I look to see Legolas appear shooting Orcs and then I notice the female captain of the guard, who I recall he called Tauriel. An orc jumps out of the bush and I end up on my back, stabbing the creature in the gut and pushing it off me as I make my way to Kili. Kili manages to get the leaver and open it while I fight off an orc that was making it's way to the young dwarf. I cut it's throat and look back to Kili who nods before sliding into an empty barrel. I quickly kill another orc before jumping into another empty barrel. I look for Bilbo who is holding onto Nori's cask.
We go down several small waterfalls, all the while the orcs shooting their arrows and throwing their spears at us until we're nearer the side where they can try and swipe at us. A few of us have weapons stolen from orcs that we have managed to kill. As the raging river gets narrower it's easier for the orcs to try and kill us. The barrel I am in bumps into a rock in the middle off the torrents slitting the seam of the wood and leaking water in. I curse and look around and I notice a fallen tree is over the river connecting both sides like a bridge, an orc runs on it and jumps at the closes dwarf to him. Balin, helpless can do nothing but look at the orc as it is heading straight for him.
“Balin!” Thorin calls before throwing a spear at the jumping orc, impaling him on the tree. Catching the weapon that the orc drops, as he passes underneath. He throws it to Dwalin who throws it to another dwarf. I look to my side as I see something move and quickly manage to dodge to the side of a thrown axe which embeds in the cask. I pull the axe out of the wood and throw it back, with my good arm, embedding it in it's skull, it falls into the water next to my barrel and I reclaim the axe.
“Cut the log” I hear Thorin say and I turn around in my barrel, noticing a few dwarves chopping another over hanging tree. It breaks right in front of me and an orc grabs onto my cask. Holding my arm away and going to stab me with a dagger, grinning evilly. It screeches about to plunge the dagger into my chest but the back of it's neck is cut deeply by Bombur as he passes in his barrel, severing the orc's spine.
Bombur then gets jumped on by an orc, embedding a spear into the barrel but the current separates us before I can assist him. The spear gets stuck on a branch and Bombur and barrel are catapulted onto shore, rolling over orcs that are in his way as he bounces around uncontrollably. The barrel rolls over another fallen tree to the other side of the river, where he rolls even more before bouncing over to the opposite side of the river again with the help of part of another fallen tree.

Eventually, the barrel comes to a stop, and orcs surround it, the bottom of the cask is kicked free and Bombur sticks his arms out of the ruined sides, holding axes. He jumps to his feet, spinning and killing or injuring any orc nearby. He quickly finishes his foes and jumps into one of the other empty barrels, throwing the weapons to two of the dwarves. Who then have to help his cask upright so the barrel doesn't fill with water and he drowns.
The elves have caught up to us and are making our job easier by shooting the orcs before most of them can even get to us. Legolas, leaps gracefully with his feet on the heads of two dwarves, an unhappy Dwalin and Nori as he shoots orcs on both riverbanks. He steps off one of them as a rock protrudes through the river, on one foot, his balance perfect, he aims carefully, and manages to skewer two orcs through the head with one arrow. Despite the circumstances of death by drowning, by orcs or imprisonment, I have to have a little chuckle at that. Legolas continues shooting orcs and jumps to the riverbank and starts to fight them. He kills an orc in front of him and slides down a small incline and continues to fight. Then he crosses to the other side of the river using the heads of floating dwarves as stepping stones. I realise that my barrel is almost full of water and it catches on a rock underneath the water, causing it to hit another rock to the side splitting the stressed ropes and cask apart. I am dragged under the water by the current and pulled along, the murky water is hard to see through and from what I can see there are a lot of jagged rocks. I get thrown into a rock before before the current allows me to get back to the surface. I cough up water and gasp for breath as I quickly look around in pain. I notice an empty barrel not too far away and try my hardest to swim to it. Once I get to the barrel I look around and notice the orcs are quite far behind us and the elves have stopped chasing us. I lean against the cask still coughing up water.
“Is everyone alright?” I hear someone shout. We all look around to make sure everyone is accounted for.
I hug my barrel and straddle it to make sure I don't fall off, surely these rapids can't go on forever?
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Sorry it took so long to update, I've been rather distracted lately, but to make up for it it's a pretty long chapter. I've been up all night (GMT London) so that I could update. I hope you like it, sorry for any errors. Please review?